George “Ferocious” Kambosos Jr. wants to make it clear that he still has plenty of fight left in him.
The former unified 135-pound champion suffered a pair of one-sided, unanimous decision defeats to Devin Haney last year. In June, he lost his titles, and in October, failed to win them back in a rematch.
After the losses, Kambosos (20-2, 10 KOs) was offered to jump straight into the fire once again against Shakur Stevenson but the Greek-Australian turned down the offer because he needed to take a break reset.
Still just 29 years old, Kambosos clarified how he intends to resume his career and rebound during a recent interview with Fight Hype.
“The hunger is still there to be the best that I can be. There were a lot of options for me to have easy fights, but as a true warrior, I took the hard fight against Devin Haney,” said Kambosos.
“I got better in the second fight, regardless of what people say. I showed more. I tried different things, but [Haney] got better as well. He became a sharper fighter, a more precise fighter.
“I feel like I learned more from those two fights than any win I had in my career. I’m very excited about 2023 because doing 24 rounds with Haney alone and continuing to be a better fighter and a true warrior. Defeat isn’t the worst thing in the world.”
Kambosos is anticipating a mid-year return and he’d like to get a crack at Vasiliy Lomachenko after the Ukrainian faces off against Devin Haney for their tentatively scheduled May 20 matchup.
“I’ve learned a lot. Haney is a very [big] lightweight. As Lomachenko said, he’s a heavyweight,” said Kambosos.
“I’m very hungry to continue to achieve more, and I know I will be a two-time world champion. No disrespect to Lomachenko, but regardless of what’s going to happen in that fight [with Haney], I’d still want to grace the ring with Lomachenko, regardless of how much older he’s getting or how he’s looking.
“It’s a fight that was nearly done when I had all the belts. So, I’d love to do that fight, and maybe do a big stadium fight here in Australia.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.